Buckle and catch device for belts



Feb. 21. 1956 R. BEUCHAT ET AL 2,735,152 BUCKLE AND CATCH DEVICE FOR BELTS. STRAPS AND THE LIKE FLEXIBLE STRIPS Filed Feb. 15, 1952 l'nveniors Ro/AMD ELI/CHAT SAM/:1. (Tb/v00 United States Patent BUCKLE AND CATCH DEVICE FOR BELTS, STRAPS AND THE LIKE FLEXIBLE STRIPS Roland Beuchat and Samuel Junod, Geneva, Switzeriand Application February 15, 1952, Serial No. 271,698 1 Claim. (Cl. 24-178) Our invention has for its object a buckle and catch device for flexible strips, such as belts and straps including a cross-member against which the operative tip of the catch bears, after it has passed through a perforation in the belt in the closed position of the latter.

One of the objects of our invention is to produce connecting means of the above referred to buckle and catch type that may allow the user to open the strap or belt without it being necessary to first tighten slightly the strands of the belt that engage the connecting means before it is possible to remove the catch out of the perforation engaged thereby. This operation, which is essential in the case of all known catch and buckle systems, may be somewhat diflicult when the belt or the like member is already fastened tightly.

To this end, we have provided connecting means wherein the catch and element carrying same are executed in a manner such that, in order to allow aneasy opening of the belt, the catch may move away from the crossmember engaged thereby through a rearwardly directed translational movement. During this translational movement, the catch is constrained to move out of the perforation in the belt so that it is possible to immediately release the latter in order to open it.

A further object of the invention consists in the provision of a slider carrying the catch and guided l0ngitudinally along two parallel sides of the buckle while it is urged into its inoperative belt-closing position by a spring.

Further objects and advantages of our invention will appear in the reading of the following description, reference being made toaccompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the buckle in its closed position, this buckle connecting the two ends of a flexible belt.

Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 are respectively a plan view partly cross-sectional through the catch-carrying slider in its closed position, a plan view showing the catch in its released position, and two vertical side views of the buckle, the catch being respectively in its closed and in its released position.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5, one of the ends of belt L of the like flexible connecting strip is secured over a tubular transverse carrier element 12 that forms a slider guided along two parallel sides 13 of the buckle which latter assumes the general shape of a flat frame. This buckle includes also a cross-member 14 in the middle of which is provided a recess 15 adapted to be engaged by the operative tip of the catch 16 which latter is pivotally secured to the tubular carrier 12 so as to be capable of rocking in the medial plane of the buckle. Said catch passes through one of the perforations 17 in the belt material. The tubular carrier element 12 carries inside it (Fig. 2) two aligned plunger pistons 18 and 20 including each three aligned sections of difierent diam eters. The picton 18 has a projecting end section 21 of a srnalier diameter that is connected through a shoulder with a medial section 22, of a larger diameter, directly 2,735,152 Patented Feb. 21, 1956 2.. connected in its turn with the inner section of a still larger diameter designated more particularly by the reference number 18. Similarly, thepiston 20Iincludesan outwardly projecting section 23 of a reduced diameter that is connected by a shoulder with a medial section of a larger diameter24that is in its turn directly connected with the inner section-200i? a still larger diameter.

These plunger pistons 18 and 20 are housed inside the opposite'ends of the-tubular carrier element 12 and are urged in opposite directions towards the outside of the buckle body by the coil spring 25 fitted between them. The shoulder provided between the large diameter section and the medial section of each piston forms a stop coop crating with the corresponding terminal stop 26 or 27 of the tubular carrier. Each medial section 22 or 24 of each piston normally engages the front circular end 28 of an elongated opening 29 provided in the corresponding parallel side 13 of the frame-shaped buckle (see Fig. 4).

Except for the circular opening 28, the elongated opening or slot 29 that is narrower than said opening has a breadth that is hardly larger than the diameter of the projecting sections 21 and 23 of the two plunger pistons.

In order to secure the tubular carrier element 12 in a direction parallel with the bearing cross-member 14 during its longitudinal movement, said carrier element 12 may include a rearwardly directed projection in contact with the inner surfaces of the longitudinal parallel sides 13 of the buckle which sides extend in their turn rearwardly beyond the short portions illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.

When the above described buckle is in its closed position (Fig. 2), the operative tip of the catch 16 passes through one of the perforations 17 and rests inside the recess 15 of the bearing cross-member 14. The medial sections 22 and 24 of the plunger pistons engage the enlarged circular ends 28 to the front of the elongated openings 29. When it is desired to open the buckle, the operator urges the two plunger pistons 18 and 20 inwardly of the sliding tubular element 12 against the action of the spring 25 and, when the ends of the reduced diameter section 21 and 23 lie in register with the actual'elongated openings 29, the operator draws the pusher pistons back in the direction of the arrow F1, whereby the carrier element 12 is caused to slide longitudinally of said openings until it reaches the righthand end thereof while the terminal sections 21 and 23, having a reduced diameter, of the pistons abut against the righthand end of the openings 29 (see Fig. 5), and the operative tip of the catch is released with reference to the cross-member 14. The catch having been moved away from the crossmember 14, it is now easy to make it pivot outwardly of the plane of the buckle and to disengage it with reference to the perforation 17 in the belt.

What we claim is:

A buckle for elongated perforated flexible strips comprising a body including a cross member at its front and two longitudinal sides each provided with a narrow longitudinal slot the front end of which terminates with a circular opening of a larger diameter, a tubular member to which one end of the flexible strip is secured extending between the sides of the body, a piston slidingly carried inside each end of the tubular member and including an inner section the diameter of which is intermediate between the breadth of the slot and the diameter of the circular opening and an outer section of smaller diameter projecting through and guided by the corresponding slot in the buckle body, a spring inside the tubular member urging the pistons apart into engagement with the slots and urging their outer sections into engagement with the circular opening when they register therewith, a catch pivotally secured to said tubular member round an axis parallel with the axis of the latter and adapted to engage a perforation of the strip and to bear through its free end on the cross-member of the buckle when the sliding tubular member registers with the circular openings while it releases the cross-member and the perforations when said inner sections have receded and the tubular member is held by outer piston sections registering with the slots to the rear of the circular openings.

229,087 Brazeal June 22, 1880 Gable et a1 Aug. 17, 1886 Pierce ...7 Dec. 17, 1901 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain of 1915. 

